ISSN print edition: 0366-6352 ISSN electronic edition: 1336-9075 Registr. No.: MK SR 9/7 Published monthly

Study of the effect of ionic liquid on the wettability alteration of carbonate reservoir

Maraim Kh. Uoda, Hussein Q. Hussein, and Rana R. Jalil

Chemical Engineering Department, College of Engineering, University of Baghdad, Baghdad, Iraq

E-mail: eng.maraim89alkhleel@gmail.com

Received: 30 November 2022  Accepted: 11 February 2023

Abstract:

Surfactant flooding was identified as a possible addition to water-based enhanced oil recovery techniques. In the past few years, core displacement research on carbonate rock samples using low-salinity brine as the injection fluid has shown to improve crude oil recovery moderate. This study presents a unique hybrid enhanced oil recovery (EOR) technique that combines the effects of low-salinity brine injection and surfactant flooding. When the surfactant was utilized in tertiary mode, i.e. after secondary water flooding, the results indicated a higher oil percentage recovery over 75% of original oil in place (OOIP). The first step of the investigation was to evaluate interfacial tension and wettability by screening IL, namely [C12Py][Cl], using the pendant drop and contact angle experimentally. The result shows that this surfactant alters wettability from 98° to 28° and interfacial tension (IFT) from 3.13 to 1.25 dynes/cm at 250 ppm. Following this, the impact of ionic liquid concentration on ultimate oil recovery in the core plug from the carbonate oil reservoir was investigated using a core-flooding test. This hybrid EOR technology may be more economically feasible than low-salinity water flooding or surfactant flooding alone in certain circumstances due to poor surfactant preservation.

Keywords: Wettability alteration; Interfacial tension (IF); Ionic liquid (IL); Dodecyl pyridinium chloride; Enhanced oil recovery (EOR)

Full paper is available at www.springerlink.com.

DOI: 10.1007/s11696-023-02728-0

Chemical Papers 77 (7) 3663–3669 (2023)